Method and system for distributing patient referrals

ABSTRACT

Practitioners are certified to perform a medical procedure, such as an orthodontic procedure. Certified practitioners are maintained in a referral directory and classified within tiers based on criteria such as the number of procedures that they have performed. Inquiries are solicited from prospective patients, and referral lists are provided to those patients who request them. The referral lists are obtained from the referral directory with doctors from higher tiers who have performed more procedures receiving preferential inclusion on the referral lists.

CROSS-REFERENCE

This application is a Continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/672,549, filed Nov. 8, 2012, which is a Continuation Application ofU.S. application Ser. No. 12/534,790, filed Aug. 3, 2009, now U.S. Pat.No. 8,326,647, which is a Divisional Application of U.S. applicationSer. No. 09/756,885, filed Jan. 9, 2001, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,580,846,the content of each of which is hereby incorporated by reference in itsentirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to business methods and moreparticularly to methods for referring practitioners certified to performcertain procedures to prospective patients.

Quality healthcare is a matter of overriding concern to the U.S. andworldwide populations. New medical and dental devices and procedureshave been and will continue to contribute significantly to improvementsin the quality of healthcare in the U.S. and abroad. Each new procedureis unique, and many new procedures and technologies require a learningperiod for the practitioner. For many such technologies, the creator ofthe technology, typically a company having a proprietary interest in thetechnology, will play a significant role in developing and disseminatingthe technology to practitioners. Frequently, the company will offertraining to licensed doctors, dentists, and other health professionals,and will make “certification” resulting from such training aprerequisite to the dispensing and distribution of devices required toperform the new procedures.

Of particular interest to the present application, Align Technology,Santa Clara, Calif., has recently developed an orthodontic treatmentsystem under the Invisalign® trade name. The Invisalign® System isdispensed to patients only by orthodontic practitioners who have beencertified by Align to perform the new orthodontic procedure.

Align Technology, Inc., maintains an advertising campaign intended toinform patients of the availability and advantages of orthodontictreatment using the Invisalign® System. As part of the advertisingcampaign, potential patients are invited to contact Align by telephoneor over the internet. As a result of such solicitation, Align receivesmany patient inquiries and is in a position to refer patients toindividual practitioners.

In referring potential patients to individual practitioners, severalobjectives must be met. First, the referral process should be inclusiveand assure that at least many of the practitioners who have beencertified will receive referrals to assist them in developing theirpractices. It is also important, however, to avoid over loadingrelatively inexperienced practitioners who might otherwise benefit fromadditional time and patient experience to develop their skills in thenew procedures. Finally, it would be advantageous to direct a largernumber of potential patients to those practitioners who havedemonstrated an ability to handle larger case loads and who havedeveloped more skills and efficiencies in the new procedures.

For these reasons, it would be desirable to develop and implement newmethods and procedures for referring patients to practitioners forperforming novel and often proprietary medical procedures. Such methodsand systems should provide referrals to most or all of the practitionerswho have become certified to perform a new procedure but shouldpreferentially direct referrals to those practitioners who are best ableto handle a large number of patients. At least some of these objectiveswill be met by the inventions described hereinafter.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides methods and systems for referringpatients to practitioners who perform medical procedures. The medicalprocedures will typically be new and innovative procedures which arebeing introduced into the medical community by a company, organization,or institution which has developed the procedure and which usually hasproprietary rights to the procedure. In this way, the company,organization, or other institution can maintain control over performanceof the procedure, typically by controlling training of the practitionersas well as by dispensing and distributing of the tools, devices, andkits required to pertain' the procedures. An exemplary procedure forreferral according to the present invention is an orthodontic procedurewhich is performed using the Invisalign® System available from AlignTechnology, Inc., Santa Clara, Calif. The procedure as well as theappliances used in the procedure are proprietary and described in U.S.Pat. No. 5,975,893, as well as the following pending U.S. patentapplications:

09/466,353 09/298,268 09/454,786 09/454,278 09/483,071 09/169,27609/169,036 09/169,034 09/313,291 09/264,547 09/313,290 09/311,94109/311,716 09/311,715 09/539,185 09/539,021 09/534,461 60/199,48560/199,662 60/199,663 60/199,610 60/199,465 09/616,222 09/506,41909/560,052 09/557,382 09/566,424 09/576,721 09/621,716 09/620,25309/626,192 09/641,208.

The disclosures of the issued patent, as well as all pendingapplications, are incorporated herein by reference.

In a first aspect of the present invention, a method for referringpatients to practitioners comprises certifying a group of practitionersto perform a medical procedure, such as an orthodontic procedure.Individual patients who wish to receive the procedure are identified,and the identified patients are provided with a referral list ofcertified practitioners. In order to assure that most patients arereferred to practitioners who have significant experience in performingthe procedure, the list preferentially includes and/or presentspractitioners who have performed more procedures than otherpractitioners. Typically, the practitioners will be placed into “tiers”or levels which reflect the number of procedures performed, with thosepractitioners who have performed more procedures being assigned tohigher tiers while those who have performed fewer procedures areassigned to lower tiers. The ability to direct or channel patients toexperienced practitioners has a number of advantages. The majority ofpatients will be seen by practitioners who have significant experienceand who have probably gained additional skills. Conversely, by directingor channeling fewer referral patients to those practitioners with lessexperience, those practitioners can gain experience without becomingoverwhelmed with referrals. Additionally, those practitioners who havedecided to emphasize or focus their practice on the procedure willbenefit from a continuing referral base of patients interested in havingthe procedure performed.

Certification of the practitioners may be as simple as registering thosepractitioners who have a desire to perform the procedure. More usually,however, the practitioners will undergo education and/or training priorto certification. Such training will typically be provided by thecompany, organization, or other institution which sponsors theprocedure, typically in the form of formal training sessions (e.g.,seminars), written materials, electronic teaching materials, andpresentations by a sales force, and the like. In addition to training,certification may require that the practitioners be tested, and in someinstances it may be desirable to require that the practitioners performat least one procedure, usually with a previously certified practitioneror trainer present.

Once certified, the names, addresses, and other contact information(such as phone number, facsimile number, e-mail address, and the like)will be collected for the practitioner and maintained in a referraldirectory. The referral directory will be updated periodically with newpractitioners being added as they become certified. Of course,practitioners can be removed from the referral directory as well.Practitioners may be removed at their request or by action of thecompany, organization, or institution which maintains the referraldirectory. For example, should for any reason it become apparent thatthe practitioner has in the past, or continues to perform the procedurein an unacceptable fashion, the practitioner's name may be removed fromthe referral directory. The referral directory will also be updated withrespect to status. For example, as practitioners perform additionalprocedures, the tier or other status designation may be upgraded. Ininstances where the sponsoring company or organization distributes theproduct necessary to perform the procedure, the number of proceduresperformed by an individual practitioner can be updated based on thenumber of kits, tools, or other products ordered by the practitionerfrom the sponsoring organization.

The referral directory will be organized in a manner which facilitatesproviding referrals information to individual patients. In particular,the referral directory will allow the sorting and retrieval ofpractitioners practicing in a given geographic area to facilitatematching of practitioners with the locations of prospective patients.For example, the referral directory may allow identification of doctorsbased on their addresses, zip codes, or the like, where that informationcan be matched with similar information from the prospective patient.From the geographic information, in most instances at least, asignificant number of practitioners could be identified for anyparticular prospective patient. According to the present invention,however, the practitioners who are closer to the patient will be furtherselected so that the experienced practitioners who have performed moreprocedures are preferentially included on a referral list which iseventually provided to the patient. Usually, the practitioners will bearranged into tiers or levels based upon the number of procedures thatthey have performed. Practitioners may be randomly ordered within a tieror may further be ranked in a tier, typically based on the number ofprocedures performed. Usually, each tier will be defined by a thresholdof a number of procedures performed over a selected period of time.Alternatively, the threshold number may be the cumulative or aggregatenumber of procedures performed by the practitioner measured from thetime they began performing the procedure.

Usually, there will be at least three tiers to which the practitionerswill be assigned. For example, practitioners may be assigned to aninitial or lowest tier when they first become certified. Afterperforming a certain threshold number of procedures, typically 30 in therange from 5 to 25 during a calendar quarter, for the exemplary use ofthe Invisalign® System, practitioners may be assigned to an intermediateor next higher tier. The third or highest tier would then be achievedwhen the practitioner has performed a still higher threshold number ofprocedures, typically in the range from 10 to 50 procedures during acalendar quarter. Of course, there could be fourth, fifth, and evenhigher tiers, each of which would have a still higher threshold numberof procedures defining its entry level.

In a second aspect, methods according to the present invention forreferring patients to dental practitioners comprise certifying thedental practitioners to perform a dental procedures, such as theorthodontic procedure using the Invisalign® System described above. Themethod further comprises informing a potential patient population of theavailability of the procedure, typically through advertising in theprint and electronic media. Individual patients who are identified areprovided with a referral list of certified practitioners, where thepractitioners are placed on the referral lists based on one or moreperformance criteria, typically including at least the number ofprocedures performed. The number of procedures performed may bedetermined over a preselected or fixed time period or alternatively mayrepresent the cumulative or aggregate number of procedures performed bythe practitioner. The certification process has generally been describedabove. The practitioners are preferentially placed on the referral liststypically utilizing a tiering approach as described above. Individualpatients will usually contact a referral center either by telephone,e-mail, or other electronic communication system.

In a third aspect of the present invention, methods for referringpatients to practitioners comprise maintaining a referral directory,soliciting and receiving inquiries from prospective patients, andreferring to individual patients practitioners from the referraldirectory that are located within the patient's geographic area. Asdescribed previously, the listing of practitioners in the referraldirectory will usually be prioritized into a plurality of tiers,typically at least three, depending on the number of procedures thateach practitioner has performed. Maintaining the referral directorycomprises certifying practitioners to perform the procedure, trackingthe number of times each certified practitioner performs the procedureto produce a performance number for that practitioner, and periodicallyupdating the referral directory to reflect updated performance numbers.As before, the performance numbers can either be based on the cumulativeor aggregate number of procedures performed, but will more usually bebased on the number of procedures performed by an individualpractitioner over a predetermined time interval.

Soliciting typically comprises advertising and providing contactinformation that permits a prospective patient to contact a referralcenter. The referral center may be staffed by people who answertelephones or respond to electronic communications or may be provided byan automated response system, such as a telephone or web-based systemwhich allows a patient to navigate through the system using a series ofmenus and prompts. Referring will comprise first determining a patient'sgeographic area and then generating from the referral directory areferral list of practitioners within the patient's geographic area.Usually, the list will include a plurality of practitioners from thegeographic area, where the practitioners are selected and/or arranged sothat practitioners from the higher tiers are preferentially presentedrelative to practitioners from a lower tier. The preference can be thatthe practitioners from higher tiers are listed more frequently, i.e., onmore referral lists, than practitioners from lower tiers. Alternativelyor additionally, practitioners from higher tiers may be placed moreprominently on a referral list, e.g., usually at the beginning of thelist rather than near an end of the list. By providing such preferentiallistings, it is expected that the practitioners on higher tiers who haveperformed more procedures will be contacted by more prospective patientsas a result of the referral process than will practitioners from lowertiers.

In other cases, referring may comprise determining the location of thepatient's geographic area and then selecting a single practitioner to bereferred to the patient. In that case, the practitioners from highertiers will be selected more frequently than those from lower tiers, thusagain causing the practitioners from higher tiers to receive morereferral calls from prospective patients. With both of these approaches,however, it may be preferred that all practitioners included in thereferral directory will receive at least some calls (although in someinstances the practitioners in the lower tiers may only receivereferrals when no practitioners from higher tiers are present in apatient's geographic area). It may be advantageous that thepractitioners from the lower tiers receive referrals (although in lessernumber or at a lower rate) to give them the opportunity to gainexperience in the procedure with less likelihood that they will beoverwhelmed with referrals and new patients desiring to have theprocedure. Additionally, those practitioners in the lower tiers whochoose to do so may make an effort to work with both the referredpatients as well as patients from other referral sources in order toincrease the number of procedures that they perform and are in a highertier in which case they will receive more referrals.

In yet another aspect of the present invention, a computer system havinga processor and memory for generating a list of medical practitionersfor referring to potential patients comprises a means for maintaining areferral directory and a means for sorting practitioners on the referraldirectory to produce a referral list. The means for maintaining areferral directory will include contact information for practitionerswho are certified to perform the procedure wherein the practitioners areprioritized in a plurality of tiers depending on the number ofprocedures that they have performed. The means for sorting produces areferral list in response to an inquiry from a prospective patientwherein practitioners are first selected based on proximity to thegeographic area of the patient. The practitioners are furtherpreferentially selected based on the tier to which the practitioner hasbeen assigned. As described above, the referral list may include aplurality of practitioners where the practitioners from the higher tiersmay be included more often (or in some cases exclusively) on listsand/or included more prominently on lists, i.e., placed higher on a listthan a practitioner in the same area but from a lower tier.Alternatively, the referral list may include only a single practitioner,where practitioners from the same geographic areas but from higher tiersare included on more lists than those from lower tiers. A computersystem will further comprise means for inputting data into themaintaining means and means for displaying the referral lists. In aspecific example, the display means is a visual display means which isuseful for human operators manning telephone call centers. The computersystem may be used as a part of a web-based system for automaticallyproducing referral lists for prospective patients who choose to contacthe provider over the web.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the flow of information in themethods and systems of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of a computer system adapted forpracticing the methods of the present invention.

FIG. 3 illustrates a referral list generated in accordance with theprinciples of the present invention as it might be shown on a visualmonitor of the computer system of FIG. 2.

DESCRIPTION OF THE SPECIFIC EMBODIMENTS

The present invention for selecting and referring prospective patientsto practitioners to will be described with respect to a method andsystem for orthodontics as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,975,893, thefull text of which has been previously incorporated herein by reference.The methods and systems described in that patent are now commerciallyavailable under the Invisalign® System trade name from Align Technology,Inc., Santa Clara, Calif. Briefly, certified orthodontic practitionersobtain an impression of the patient's teeth, usually both upper andlower jaws, which is then scanned or otherwise processed to produce adigital data set representing the initial position of the teeth. Fromthat data set, Align Technology generates a final data set representinga desired tooth configuration which is based upon a prescriptionreceived from the orthodontic practitioner. After confirming the finaltooth arrangement with the orthodontic practitioner, Align then modelsand produces a plurality of aligners which are polymeric shells whichmay be placed upon the teeth. Each of the successive aligners has aslightly different geometry selected to move the teeth toward theirdesired final positions. From between 20 and 60 aligners are normallyused in any single course of treatment. The Invisalign® System isproprietary, and Align Technology certifies orthodontic practitioners topractice using the system. Align Technology will distribute and dispensethe Invisalign® System only through those orthodontic practitioners whohave been certified by Align to perform the procedure. While the presentinvention will be described with respect to the Invisalign® System, itwill be appreciated that the methods and systems of the presentinvention will be useful with a variety of other medical procedures andsystems where a company, organization, or other institution is in aposition to certify practitioners and/or control the distribution anddispensing of the system to the practitioners.

Referring now to FIG. 1, the present invention begins with thecertification of practitioners as indicated at box 10. The practitionerswill usually be orthodontists and the certification process will usuallyrequire attendance by the practitioner at a course where the details ofthe procedure are taught. Certification, however, could require more,e.g., testing, performance of at least one procedure under the guidanceof a previously certified practitioner or teacher, or the like.Alternatively, certification could require mere registration if theprocedure involved were not particularly complex and did not requirespecific training As described elsewhere, however, the present methodand system are particularly useful for relatively complex procedureswhich required training

Once an initial group of practitioners has been certified,identification and contact information from each of the certifiedpractitioners may be collected into a referral directory. The referraldirectory will usually be maintained as part of an electronic data base,permitting relatively easy access, updating, and manipulation, asdescribed in more detail below. The referral directory will be updatedas additional practitioners are certified and as practitioners areremoved, if for any reason that should be necessary. Performancecriteria, e.g., numbers of procedures and/or tiering, will also beupdated over time as the practitioners gain experience.

The methods of the present invention rely on the preferential referralof certified practitioners based on a performance criteria, typicallythe number of procedures that that practitioner has performed. For allthe reasons discussed above, it is believed that referring the greatestnumber of patients to practitioners who have the most experience and arelikely the most efficient will be beneficial both to the patient and tothe practitioner. Once the referral directory has been generated, suchpreferential referrals to patients can be effected in a variety of ways.Most simply, the referral directory could include the number ofprocedures which have been performed by an individual practitioner todate or over a specified prior period. More referrals could then begiven to the practitioners who have achieved higher performance numbersthan those who have achieved lower performance numbers. Usually,however, it will be more manageable to create “tiers” or levels withinthe referral directory, as shown in block 20. Successively higher tierscan be achieved as any practitioner completes certain threshold numbersof cases. For example, for practice with the Invisalign® System, aninitial tier would include those practitioners who have been certifiedbut who have completed fewer than a first threshold number of cases,usually in the range from 5 cases to 25 cases during a calendar quarter.Alternatively, the first threshold number could be a cumulative oraggregate number, typically in the range from 25 cases to 100 cases.Once a practitioner has exceeded this first threshold number of cases,the practitioner will enter the second tier, where that practitionerwill remain until completing a second threshold number of cases. For theInvisalign® System, the second threshold will typically be from 10 casesto 50 cases over a calendar quarter, or from 50 cases to 200 casesmeasured cumulatively. After exceeding the second threshold number, thepractitioner will be in the third or highest tier. Of course, any numberof additional tiers could be created if there is a reason to do so.

While the above three-tiered scheme is particularly suitable forreferring doctors using the Invisalign® System, the protocols can varywidely for other dental and medical procedures. For example, in someinstances, it may be desirable to tier or grade the doctors based onsome objective or subjective measure of their ability. For example,doctors who have been recognized as being particularly skilled inperforming the subject procedure can be placed in higher tiers comparedto doctors who are just beginning to learn the procedure. In otherinstances, it may be appropriate to tier doctors, at least in part,based on an individual doctor's expressed desire to perform more orfewer procedures. Additionally, in some instances, it may be desirableto tier doctors based on the availability of specialized equipment toperform the procedure and/or the size or availability of staff or othersupport to assist the doctor in performing the procedures. Of course,any two or more of these particular criteria can be combined andconsidered in assigning a doctor to a tier or level within the patientreferral methods of the present invention.

The tiered referral directory, shown in block 20, will not be a staticlisting. Instead, it will be up-dateable to permit the addition ofpractitioners as well as the updating of individual practitionerinformation (block 30), such as new addresses, telephone numbers, webaddresses, or the like. The tiered referral directory will also beupdated as individual practitioners complete additional cases and moveupward through the tiered levels (block 40).

The methods of the present invention also rely on soliciting patients(block 50), at least some of whom are subsequently referred topractitioners listed in the tier referral directory. A patient'ssolicitation will be through print or electronic advertising where thepatients will be invited to contact a referral center. The referralcenter will usually have human operators who can answer telephoneinquiries, e-mail inquiries, and the like. Alternatively, the referralcenter could comprise an automated response system which would reply totelephone inquiries based on a prerecorded menu and prompt system orcould simply reply to interne or e-mail inquiries in an automatedfashion. In addition to providing information to prospective patients,the referral center will obtain contact information from thoseprospective patients who express a desire to either receive generalinformation or more specifically to receive a referral list includingcertified practitioners in their geographic area (block 60). Thus, itwill be necessary to obtain information concerning the patient'slocation. Typically, an address or just a zip code of either the eitherthe patient's home address or work address will be sufficient (althoughit may be necessary to get a postal or electronic address to send listsand/or other information).

The present invention will select practitioners based on the patient'slocation (block 70) and will generate a referral list of certifiedpractitioners for those prospective patients who desire one. Thereferral list first identifies a group of practitioners who practicewithin a reasonable distance of the patient's location. Usually, thiscan be determined based upon zip code. Once the group of convenientlylocated practitioners has been generated, typically but not necessarilyincluding all certified practitioners within a reasonable distance ofthe patient, the present invention will preferentially select amongthose practitioners to produce the referral list (block 80).

Usually, the referral list will include a plurality of practitioners,typically from one to 25, or typically from three to 15. If fewer thanthe target number of practitioners are present within a reasonabledistance of the patient, then the referral list can simply include allpractitioners who are within a requisite distance from the patient.Assuming, however, that more practitioners are close to the patient thanare to be included on the referral list, it becomes necessary to selectpractitioners for the referral list for that individual patient.

Exemplary rules that can be applied to practitioner selection are asfollows. A computer system which maintains the referral list can beprogrammed to receive locational information, such as address or zipcode, of a prospective patient. Based on that locational information,the computer can select and order practitioners based on the followingrules. First, all of the highest-tiered doctors who are closest to thepatient, e.g., within five miles, can be retrieved from the list. Next,all of the highest-tiered doctors located within a next distance rangefrom the patient, e.g., five to ten miles can be retrieved. Then, all ofthe next highest-tiered doctors within some distance from the patientcan be selected, e.g., within ten miles. Then all of the highest-tiereddoctors within some further distance from the patient, e.g., from 10 to20 miles can be selected. Next, all of the second highest-tiered doctorswithin a similar range, e.g., 10 to 20 miles can also be selected. Theselection of practitioners could continue but usually will be terminatedafter a target number has been reached, e.g., from three to 25, usuallyfive to 10. Each of the retrieved groups of doctors can then bepresented in a listing in order. Usually, doctors within each grouping,e.g., the highest-tiered doctors who are closest to the patient, will berandomly ordered and/or the order will be chosen so that the samedoctors will not always appear first on the list provided to thepatient. Similar randomization and/or selection of the doctors in eachof the subsequent groupings will also take place.

Additional rules which may be employed and generating the patientreferral lists include the following. First, there will usually be amaximum number of doctors generated for any particular patient, e.g.,15. This number, of course, can vary widely. If the search protocoldescribed above fails to identify any doctors, or fails to identify anadequate number of doctors, then lower-tiered doctors within somepreselected distance of the patient can then be provided on or added tothe patient referral list. Optionally, the search can be stopped at somemaximum distance from the patient's location, e.g., 200 miles. Thispractitioner selection protocol can be used both in fully automatedsystems, e.g., automated responses to inquires made over the company'swebsite, or may be provided on computer screens which permit humanoperators to give information to prospective patients over the phone. Ofcourse, the information could be provided via e-mail, facsimile, orother electronic means if desired. Additionally, both the human-operatedand automatic website systems will usually allow prospective patients tosearch for practitioners by name to determine both their locations andwhether they have been certified to perform the procedure.

After the referral list is generated, as shown in block 80, the listwill be transmitted to the patient (block 90). If the patient hastelephoned a call center, a list will usually be presented to anoperator on a screen and may be simply read to the patient. In otherinstances, the list may be transmitted electronically, typically viae-mail, faxed, or sent by regular mail. The referral list will usuallyinclude at a minimum, the name of the practitioner, as well as addressand contact information, such as telephone number, e-mail address, orthe like.

Referring now to FIG. 2, systems according to the present invention willcomprise a computer 100 which is typically networked to a plurality ofremote computers or monitors 102. The computer will include normalhardware such as a processor, internal memory, input devices, such as aninternal hard disc, external floppy disc, CD-ROM, and the like,typically being a networked system where computer 100 may comprise aserver and computers/monitor 102 are connected to the server usingconventional networking software. The computer will be adapted to storethe referral directory of certified practitioners. The computer willstill further be adapted to permit updating of the referral directoryfrom time to time, both to add new certified practitioners and to updateand change the tiering information of the practitioners. The computerwill still further be adapted to generate referral lists of the tierpractitioners in response to inquiries, such as the input of patientlocations. In such instances, the compute will apply the selection rulesdescribed above.

In use, an operator at one of the monitors 102 will receive an inquiryand input prospective patient information, including the patientlocation, typically at least a zip code. Based on the locationinformation, the computer 100 will generate an ordered list of certifiedpractitioners, as shown in FIG. 3. The operator may then verballyprovide the information relating to the referral list to a patient,either over the phone, via e-mail, via facsimile, or by other suitabletransmission means.

In other instances, of course, the computer may be adapted tocommunicate directly with prospective patients, either via the web orvia an automated telephone system. In both cases, there will be no needto provide individual monitors for operators receiving calls. Insteadthe computer will receive an electronic inquiry in the form of menus andprompts and provide an automated response. For web-based systems, theresponse will usually be a direct response to the inquiring patient overthe web during the session initiated by the patient. For automatedtelephone systems, the reply will typically be via synthesized speech.In both cases, the responses could be confirmed and/or additionalinformation provided by mail or facsimile. Both mail and facsimileresponses can be automated based on the information receivedelectronically from the prospective patient.

While the above is a complete description of the preferred embodimentsof the invention, various alternatives, modifications, and equivalentsmay be used. Therefore, the above description should not be taken aslimiting the scope of the invention which is defined by the appendedclaims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for referring patients to practitionersto perform a procedure, the method comprising: maintaining a referraldirectory comprising data stored on a computer system, the referraldirectory data including contact information for practitioners andinformation that the practitioners are certified to perform theprocedure, the data further comprising information for sorting thepractitioners prioritized into a plurality of tiers based at least inpart on expressed desire of each of a plurality of the practitioners toperform the procedure at one of: (1) an increased rate relative to acurrent rate for the practitioner, (2) the current rate, and (3) at adecreased rate relative to the current rate; electronically receivinginquiries from prospective patients regarding the procedure; andelectronically transmitting a referral to individual patients, inresponse to their requests, to practitioners, wherein practitioners areselected from the referral directory and sorted by the computer systemsuch that the transmitted referral gives relative preference to at leastone of the practitioners having expressed desire to perform theprocedure at an increased rate relative to the current rate for thepractitioner.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein: the data furthercomprises information for sorting the practitioners based at least inpart on each of a plurality of the practitioners' access to specializedequipment to perform the procedure; and practitioners are selected fromthe referral directory and sorted by the computer system such that thetransmitted referral gives relative preference to at least one of thepractitioners having greater access to specialized equipment to performthe procedure as compared to another of the practitioners.
 3. The methodof claim 2, wherein: the data further comprises information for sortingthe practitioners based at least in part on each of a plurality of thepractitioners' access to support personnel to assist the practitioner inperforming the procedure; and practitioners are selected from thereferral directory and sorted by the computer system such that thetransmitted referral gives relative preference to at least one of thepractitioners having greater access to support personnel to assist thepractitioner in performing the procedure as compared to another of thepractitioners.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein: the data furthercomprises information for sorting the practitioners based at least inpart on each of a plurality of the practitioners' access to supportpersonnel to assist the practitioner in performing the procedure; andpractitioners are selected from the referral directory and sorted by thecomputer system such that the transmitted referral gives relativepreference to at least one of the practitioners having greater access tosupport personnel to assist the practitioner in performing the procedureas compared to another of the practitioners.
 5. The method of claim 1,wherein: the data further comprises information for sorting thepractitioners based at least in part on a parameter indicative ofrelative skill of each of a plurality of the practitioners in performingthe procedure; and practitioners are selected from the referraldirectory and sorted by the computer system such that the transmittedreferral gives relative preference to at least one of the practitionershaving greater skill in performing the procedure as compared to anotherof the practitioners.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the parameterindicative of relative skill is based at least in part on data relatingto patient outcomes.
 7. The method of claim 5, wherein the parameterindicative of relative skill is based at least in part on data relatingto the number of the procedures performed over a preselected period oftime.
 8. The method of claim 5, wherein: the data further comprisesinformation for sorting the practitioners based at least in part on eachof a plurality of the practitioners' access to specialized equipment toperform the procedure; and practitioners are selected from the referraldirectory and sorted by the computer system such that the transmittedreferral gives relative preference to at least one of the practitionershaving greater access to specialized equipment to perform the procedureas compared to another of the practitioners.
 9. The method of claim 8,wherein: the data further comprises information for sorting thepractitioners based at least in part on each of a plurality of thepractitioners' access to support personnel to assist the practitioner inperforming the procedure; and practitioners are selected from thereferral directory and sorted by the computer system such that thetransmitted referral gives relative preference to at least one of thepractitioners having greater access to support personnel to assist thepractitioner in performing the procedure as compared to another of thepractitioners.
 10. The method of claim 5, wherein: the data furthercomprises information for sorting the practitioners based at least inpart on each of a plurality of the practitioners' access to supportpersonnel to assist the practitioner in performing the procedure; andpractitioners are selected from the referral directory and sorted by thecomputer system such that the transmitted referral gives relativepreference to at least one of the practitioners having greater access tosupport personnel to assist the practitioner in performing the procedureas compared to another of the practitioners.
 11. A computer system forgenerating a list of medical practitioners for referral to potentialpatients, the system comprising: an electronic database maintaining areferral directory that includes data comprising contact information forpractitioners who are certified to perform a procedure, the data furthercomprising information for sorting the practitioners prioritized into aplurality of tiers based at least in part on expressed desire of each ofa plurality of the practitioners to perform the procedure at one of: (1)an increased rate relative to a current rate for the practitioner, (2)the current rate, and (3) at a decreased rate relative to the currentrate; and computer-readable instructions which, when executed by acomputer, sort practitioners of the referral directory to produce areferral list in response to an inquiry from a prospective patient,wherein practitioners are first sorted into tiers based at least in parton expressed desire of each of a plurality of the practitioners toperform the procedure at one of: (1) an increased rate relative to acurrent rate for the practitioner, (2) the current rate, and (3) at adecreased rate relative to the current rate.
 12. The computer system ofclaim 11, wherein the electronic database is updatable to add and removepractitioners and to change the data with regard to expressed desire ofeach of a plurality of the practitioners to perform the procedure at oneof: (1) an increased rate relative to a current rate for thepractitioner, (2) the current rate, and (3) at a decreased rate relativeto the current rate.
 13. The computer system of claim 11, wherein: thedata further comprises information for sorting the practitioners basedat least in part on each of a plurality of the practitioners' access tospecialized equipment to perform the procedure; and practitioners areselected from the referral directory and sorted by the computer systemsuch that the transmitted referral gives relative preference to at leastone of the practitioners having greater access to specialized equipmentto perform the procedure as compared to another of the practitioners.14. The computer system of claim 13, wherein: the data further comprisesinformation for sorting the practitioners based at least in part on eachof a plurality of the practitioners' access to support personnel toassist the practitioner in performing the procedure; and practitionersare selected from the referral directory and sorted by the computersystem such that the transmitted referral gives relative preference toat least one of the practitioners having greater access to supportpersonnel to assist the practitioner in performing the procedure ascompared to another of the practitioners.
 15. The computer system ofclaim 11, wherein: the data further comprises information for sortingthe practitioners based at least in part on each of a plurality of thepractitioners' access to support personnel to assist the practitioner inperforming the procedure; and practitioners are selected from thereferral directory and sorted by the computer system such that thetransmitted referral gives relative preference to at least one of thepractitioners having greater access to support personnel to assist thepractitioner in performing the procedure as compared to another of thepractitioners.
 16. The computer system of claim 11, wherein: the datafurther comprises information for sorting the practitioners based atleast in part on a parameter indicative of relative skill of each of aplurality of the practitioners in performing the procedure; andpractitioners are selected from the referral directory and sorted by thecomputer system such that the transmitted referral gives relativepreference to at least one of the practitioners having greater skill inperforming the procedure as compared to another of the practitioners.17. The computer system of claim 16, wherein the parameter indicative ofrelative skill is based at least in part on data relating to patientoutcomes.
 18. The computer system of claim 16, wherein the parameterindicative of relative skill is based at least in part on data relatingto the number of the procedures performed over a preselected period oftime.
 19. The computer system of claim 16, wherein: the data furthercomprises information for sorting the practitioners based at least inpart on each of a plurality of the practitioners' access to specializedequipment to perform the procedure; and practitioners are selected fromthe referral directory and sorted by the computer system such that thetransmitted referral gives relative preference to at least one of thepractitioners having greater access to specialized equipment to performthe procedure as compared to another of the practitioners.
 20. Thecomputer system of claim 16, wherein: the data further comprisesinformation for sorting the practitioners based at least in part on eachof a plurality of the practitioners' access to support personnel toassist the practitioner in performing the procedure; and practitionersare selected from the referral directory and sorted by the computersystem such that the transmitted referral gives relative preference toat least one of the practitioners having greater access to supportpersonnel to assist the practitioner in performing the procedure ascompared to another of the practitioners.